Do you folks click on the banner ads on LJ?

Like pashley, who has vented his frustration on selling from his website (“Dang it, what sells?!”), I’m the same way with advertising. Some have suggested banner ads, like the ones on these pages. I e-mailed and received the rates from LJ’s advertising office, and while reasonable, they’re still pretty steep for someone in a part-time business (at the moment).

What I’m wondering is, do you folks read these ads? Do you click on them? Do you buy stuff on the websites you get directed to?

All the advertisers talk about the millions of views their websites get, but I am a bit gun-shy after my experience with magazine advertising. My next door neighbor subscribes to one of the two magazines I advertised in and admitted he never reads the ads, especially the ‘Woodworker’s Corner’ classified ads in the back. I always did, mostly because I was looking for new products, and figured new guys like me could only afford small ads.

If I start selling enough pouches to pay for those big ads, I might just buy that BMW instead!

Reading the Rockler banner, carefully, you could get free shipping on any order just by entering the coupon code provided by the link. Seems to me that is a win-win situation for Martin and all the LJ’s who took advantage of it.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I sure hate to place an order only to find the cost almost doubles due to “shipping and handling”.

Good point on the shipping and handling…some sellers on eBay try and make their money on it instead of the item. Buy a DVD for $2 and pay $30 shipping?? What’s that all about?I try to post at least a shipping estimate on those free classified sites.

At first i thought my main buyers would be woodworkers like myself- buying a sheet of plywood now and then with an open truck or too short a truck if it had a cap. But then I got a lot of interest from the building supply stores where I bought that plywood, so I developed a trim pouch (3’ wide x 17’ long for 16’ trim).Then they asked about drywall/Sheetrock, so I have a pouch for 8’ and 12’ lifts (34 sheets of 1/2”).

I’ve also made several mattress pouches- for small local furniture stores. I can make a pouch for just about any use you can think of and, I think, at quite reasonable prices. The building supply store told me they use many rolls of plastic every year to wrap that long baseboard molding, it’s a pain, and it goes into the garbage after one use. I sell them a trim pouch for $89.95 and it can last for years, if they treat it right.A friend of mine even suggested some ex-wives might buy them for their ex-husbands…not sure what she meant by that!